I do not mean that they choose what is customary, in preference to what suits their own inclination. It does not occur to them to have any inclination, except for what is customary. Thus the mind itself is bowed to the yoke: even in what people do for pleasure, conformity is the first thing thought of; they like in crowds; they exercise choice only among things commonly done: peculiarity of taste, eccentricity of conduct, are shunned equally with crimes: until by dint of not following their own nature, they have no nature to follow: their human capacities are withered and starved: they become incapable of any strong wishes or native pleasures, and are generally without either opinions or feelings of home growth, or properly their own. Now is this, or is it not, the desirable condition of human nature?

Long live interesting people. This means YOU! You are valued and loved.

I've read four books this term. What's been unusual is that three of them have had a very strong effect on me, which is a good ratio. Here they are:

The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History - Colin McEvedy
Star-Begotten - H. G. Wells
Knots - R. D. Laing
Has Man a Future? - Bertrand Russell

The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History - Colin McEvedy
Well, I suppose the word "read" is used loosely here in that half of the book was taken up with maps. This book has changed my perception of the world mainly because I now actually know a little about the history of the human race in the West and Near East. At school, we were taught about Greeks, followed by Romans, followed by the Dark ages. We're not really taught about the context of Greece and Rome, or what came before. For me, it's important to know these things for a sense of continuity and understanding where we come from; Western society is obviously largely based on Greece and Rome, but they themselves were the descendants of other societies. I now understand the entire process of the spread of civilisation from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Britain, which is great (although eventually I should also learn about Chinese, Indian, African and American civilisation).

It's also kind of crazy to think of man before he discovered farming and thus set the foundation for civilisation. Our brains now may be no different from what they were 12,000 years ago, but the fact of civilisation has changed us so much in that brief time.


Star-Begotten - H. G. Wells
The one book which didn't affect me much. One of Wells' less known and, frankly, less good books; nothing much happens except the advocation of eugenics really. Still, I am a great Wells fan, so I wasn't hugely disappointed - but probably not for people without a specific interest in Wells.


Knots - R. D. Laing
I'm not quite how to describe this book. It's a short, incredibly beautiful volume of poetry, essentially describing knots, paradoxes and lack of logic in human thoughts. The result is simultaneously hilarious and depressing, and I strongly recommend it. Perhaps a couple of quotes will do it justice:

They are not having fun.

I can’t have fun if they don’t.

If I get them to have fun, then I can have fun with them.

Getting them to have fun, is not fun. It is hard work.

I might get fun out of finding out why they’re not.

I’m not supposed to get fun out of working out why

they’re not.

But there is even some fun in pretending to them I’m not

having fun finding out why they ’re not.

 

A little girl comes along and says: let’s have fun.

But having fun is a waste of time, because it doesn’t

help to figure out why they’re not having fun.

 

How dare you have fun when Christ died on the Cross

for you! Was He having fun?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JILL I’m upset you are upset

JACK I’m not upset

JILL I’m upset that you’re not upset that I’m

upset you’re upset

JACK I’m upset that you’re upset that I’m not

upset that you’re upset that I’m upset,

when I’m not.

JILL You put me in the wrong

JACK I am not putting you in the wrong

JILL You put me in the wrong for thinking you

put me in the wrong.
 

JACK Forgive me

JILL No

JACK I’ll never forgive you for not forgiving me

Has Man a Future? - Bertrand Russell
I'd never read anything by Russell before; I'd only heard of his teapot, which pleased me of course. Then I read the first line of this book and instantly feel in love with the man:
"Man, or homo sapiens, as he somewhat arrogantly calls himself, is the most interesting, and also the most irritating, of animal species on the planet Earth". Incredibly true, and incredibly succinctly expressed. Reading the rest of the book, I feel my worldview coincides greatly with Russell's, and feel ready to call him one of my favourite philosophers already.

Two more quotes:
The division of mankind into competing and often hostile nations has had a disastrously distorting effect upon national estimates as to who deserves honour. We in Britain have devoted our most conspicuous public monuments to Nelson and Wellington, whom we honour for their skill in killing foreigners.

Patriots always talk of dying for their countries, and never talk of killing for their countries.

The book, written in 1961, deals largely with the nuclear aspect of the Cold War, calling for disarmament on both sides. It raised some very interesting points. We all know of Stanislav Petrov, who prevented nuclear war by correctly identifying what appeared to be an incoming US missile as a false alarm and refusing to retaliate. However, the same thing actually happened on the opposite side as well. Several times, flocks of geese, and at least once, the moon (!) were mistaken for a Russian attacks and bombers set off on "retaliatory" raids, only later being called back. It's also full of various other interesting facts from the Cold War Era, and definitely worth a read.

Something Lhuna said in a recent post of hers made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside. She said she really enjoyed discussing Christianity with me as with no other non-Christian, but I couldn't remember our conversations. I've just remembered little snatches of concepts now, and feel compelled to write about it.

There are only two people whose faith inspires and interests me; Hookbill and Lhuna. While I am an atheist, and secure in that belief, I feel compelled to read anything Hookbill writes on the subject of Christendom. And it makes me feel good, it even makes me feel that religion can; be a wonderful thing.

I think what sets Lhuna and Hookbill apart is how personal their faith is. To them, religion seems to be a way to become a better person. Self-improvement, being the best person they can be, seems more important than rules, regulations and rituals. They have a personal relationship with God, the goal of which seems to be self-betterment in servitude of God.

I've criticised religion often enough, but I don't think I've ever defended it. However, the type of religion Lhunbill exhibit is praiseworthy. It seems to be similar to humanism, or a spirituality all people can feel.

There was a time, not so long ago, when I thought that a perfect society would be atheistic. I'm willing to accept faith into my utopia now. It's exclusion was probably due to my own prejudices; I was an atheist, therefore I felt a perfect world would also be exclusively so. But I don't think that's true anymore. What a perfect world really needs is people who strive to be as good as they can be, to root out all their base feelings and help others. Whether they do that due a belief in and desire to serve God, as Lhunbill, or out of humanist principles, like me, doesn't make a difference in the effects on this world.

There are many examples of when religion is not worthy of respect. When rituals become ossified and meaningless, as with the obsession with Mass or baptism in some churches. When religion stops being about personal improvement and spirituality, and becomes about blind belief in unlikely religious ideas in the face of overwhelming evidence, such as Creationism. When, instead of being about the self, it becomes about others; either trying to get others to follow the same ossified rituals and believe the same ideas, Evangelism, or to force non-believers to abide by religious law, i.e. Sharia, bans on gay marriage, bans on apostacy. But now and then, you'll cross somebody who has managed to avoid these pitfalls and whose faith, while believing that they are completely wrong, will not offend you and may even inspire you.

And now to see what they themselves think, and if I've got it all wrong. :)